A compelling and evocative novel, “The White Earth” is also a starkly Gothic tale of the Australian landscape. There are ghosts, monsters, Mrs Danvers-like housekeepers and family secrets in an decaying station house in the outback. The magic realism has a “was it all just because…?” ending, but still falls neatly into the genre of magic realism. The politics of reconciliation and the Native Title Act give it a distinct air, and the novel is all the richer for it.